Monday, August 6, 2012

Monday August 6, 2012: Hermana Bowles--Saludos de Morales

Hola Padrecitos Mios:

Today is my favorite monday of the month.............BECAUSE it is the monday after the zone leaders go to Lima and they`ll have any packages and letters that were in the offices in Lima!!! Que feliz :) Cross your fingers that my card is there :)

Here`s hola to a rainy monday. It hasn`t rained in a few days and sitting here hearing it pound on the pavement and on the tin roof above is quite refreshing. I love how we can FEEL when it is going to rain. It`s a different kind of heat in the hours before and the clouds clump together differently. You can hear the drops starting off in the jungle as it approaches city limits. My favorite sound are the giant palm leaves swishing together in the wind. Swish swish, shooka shooka....their leafy sides swipe into a kind of rain-stick effect. It`s soothing to the soul. The rain cuts down the dirt from the motokars and kills the mosquitoes, so it is welcome any day in my book.

It`s kind of funny hearing about the Olympics. Friday we at lunch at a family`s house and they had their television on to the London Olympics. As we were sitting there eating Lomosoltado, Michael Phelps won the gold in some swimming event....I guess his domination continues. It was so strange to hear the announcer and the crowd start screaming because something like the olympics seems so far away and foreign right now. It was the weirdest experience.

Thank you for the news about all the marriages and mckenzie`s baby......how cute she must be. Felicitactiones!

That's neat that you`re in 3 Nefi. I remember about my second day en el CCM with my first latina companion. We were studying outside and read that chapter out loud and it was this weird dejavu moment of "wow...that took place around here."

Hermana Vasquez is absolutely fantastic. We love our new apartment, although it bakes in the sun. We get two fans going but can still only feel hot air. I open the bedroom window at the side of my bed when we get home at night. I`m afraid to leave it open longer or sleep with it open longer for fear of a cat jumping in or something. After the month in the other house in Fonavi and hearing the cats fighting on the roofs every night, that`s all I think of when see rooftops and the last thing I want is a stray cat trapped in the house. Mejor...I don`t open the window and sweat it out a little more.

The marriage is coming along....it`s only a little wait now until their papers get here in September.

Hermana Ida continues to amaze Hermana Vasquez and I....especially since she and her sons bought their motorcycle this week "so she can come to church on Sunday." Ida will be baptized this Saturday and Sunday when she receives the Holy Ghost, her son, will get the priesthood!! Fantastico!! It really is so amazing to see people converting and giving up their coffee, time, and will to change and come unto Christ. Ida is so sweet and when we teach her in a member`s house, she always brings some refreshment. Normally, she brings "sachapapa" which is a cousin to the sweet potatoe that she sells en el mercado. The ladies in the branch are always asking us when her appointments are so that they can come, too.

Hermana Gladys, who was baptized in June is happily teaching in young women. It is so sweet to see her come early and stick her pictures and diagrams on the wall. I admire her example so much.

I cannot believe that it is August....weren`t we just in June? Every day it seems like the months fly faster and faster.

The work continues here in Morales. I`m grateful for the branch I`m in and the district I have because there is lots of love. It`s about so much more than numbers and baptisms, but really loving everyone like the children of God they are. The members take care of us like their children, the investigators, too.

Elder Garrett Bowles

Mission address

About the Mission

Mission President and Wife

President and Sister Bubert

Ted F. Bubert II, 50, and Catherine Howard Bubert, six children, California Long Beach Mission, West Bountiful 3rd Ward, West Bountiful Utah Stake. Brother Bubert serves as a high councilor and is a former bishop and counselor, ward mission leader, temple ordinance worker and missionary in the Ecuador Guayaquil Mission. Owner, Custom-Built Construction, Inc. and former seminary instructor. Born in New Orleans, La., to August John and Camille Esther Richardson Bubert.

Sister Bubert is a former ward Young Women president and adviser, ward Relief Society president and counselor, ward Primary teacher and missionary in the Ecuador Guayaquil Mission. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to David Hatch and June Noble Howard.

Followers

Sister Kristin Bowles

Mission address

About the Mission

Mission President and Wife

President and Sister Blunck

Lawrence Paul Blunck, 53, and Karen Janeece Hawman Blunck, four children, Peru Lima North Mission; Canby 2nd Ward, Oregon City Oregon Stake. Brother Blunck is ward Young Men president and a former counselor in a stake presidency, bishop, high councilor, counselor in a ward Young Men presidency and missionary in the Peru Lima Mission. Partner, Blunck & Walhood LLC. Born in Hood River, Ore., to Alfred Carl and Beverly Kay Garrett Blunck.

Sister Blunck serves as a counselor in a stake Relief Society presidency and is a former counselor in ward Young Women and Relief Society presidencies, seminary teacher and gospel doctrine teacher. Born in Sacramento, Calif., to Phillip Arthur and Grace Ardele Hawman.